Did you know that to pick a beet out of wet earth, one must clear some of the dirt away with a deft finger to see the outline of the beet? Intention is the shortest distance between any two points. Beet growing in the garden being one point: Beet roasted, peeled, cut into ruby wedges on white plate with fresh basil and tossed with light lemon dressing being the other point. It’s all in the wrist and the angle of the pull. One must see the direction that is most advantageous for extraction.
Whole House Farm in Sebastapol has been a Goddess-Send these past four days! Christine and David Cole have a twenty three acre working farm from which we were invited to, and taught how to harvest sorrel, basil, raspberries, lemon cucumbers, grape tomatoes, kale, ground cherries, chives, shallots, leeks, and these marvelous beets and beet greens.
Y-U-M-M-M!
It was easy to forget that the last vision of my home in the rear-view mirror on Friday was of it covered top to bottom in a termite-gas-proof green tent. Yuck! Really gross to think about killing every living squatter that was living under that tent. Clearly, I’m not a Jain.
Yucky too, to think of termites and their wriggly pupe-escent larvae chomping on the beams and joists of our home. We tried the “greener” approaches: orange oil, heat, freezing their butts. After 25 years of living here, this is the second time we’ve had to call out the big guns and tent for the buggers.
Termites began to rain on my clients from the ceiling beams. I was picking up a dozen or more wriggly, winged reddish bodies every afternoon from the white carpet and my altar. I worried that they’d fall onto the faces of my clients.
Swarming is what they call this season. The heat brings them out.
Here in Sebastapol, I’m hours and four hundred miles from the worrisome creatures, although I picked up two here on the white linoleum kitchen floor. I swear I didn’t bring them with me! The Northern California variety are twice the size of their lowly lower CA cousins.
It will be another *^&%$#@ growth opportunity to put away all the food items we had to bag and double bag with special gas-proof bags against the infiltration of Vicain gas. The shelves will be so clean (after I wash them all down). The termites will be so... dead. Unfortunately, so will the spiders, ants, silverfish, crickets, wasps and any leafy tendrils that may have been trying to grow in the crawl-space under the house. I did talk to the non-house-eating bugs and invite them to move elsewhere before Friday... or else! I hope they understood my intention!
Spending four days and three nights with six of my high school buddies was a real treat. Each of us brought something to share for our meals - which were spectacular gourmet productions! Fresh chicken eggs for breakfast along with FRESH raw goat kefir, fresh-off-the-vine raspberries, and plum jam - all from the farm! Dinners included every vegetable mentioned above plus crunchy green beans and chard. We grilled salmon, sautéd sausages, and baked brownies. Because I had to clean out the fridge at home, I brought many items to share. We made use of them all. Did I mention the wine? OMG! So flavorful and conversation boosting.
Sunday, three had to return home; four of the seven of us went into Healdsburg and browsed in antique shops and wineries. The interstitial one-on-one visits with each of my friends was more nourishing than food. These are gals whom I’ve known since those awkward teen-angst years and with one another, we can let our hair down.
One of the things we discovered is that no one is immune to chin whiskers! What a relief to know that not one of us suffers from terminal uniqueness. Have tweezers; will pluck! I do remember my grand mother laughing at her reflection in her dressing table mirror with the query: “Ain’t Mother Nature wonderful? She takes the hairs out of our eyebrows and sticks ‘em on our chins!” I wonder if I talk with my bristly hairs... will they depart?
Home is where the heart is. Mine is forever migrating. I seem to be at home in the north and in the south. Perhaps, I’ll set my intention to become bi- latitudinous!
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